Free Apocalypsis 1.05 Island of the Light by Mario Giordano Page A

dissuaded from his plan, neither by our brotherly love, nor by rational discussion. On the following day, our brother Malachy suffered a regrettable bout of the worst imaginable convulsions, which took his life from him during the following night. In that very same hour, we took possession of his parchments and destroyed them for the benefit of the Church.
    Our brother Malachy was a devout Christian and a true saint. We will do everything in our power to make sure that he is canonized as soon as possible. We will soon leave to join up with Louis and preach for a second crusade into the Holy Land so that you, dear brother, and your order are provided with all imaginable powers and financial means to bring the holiest of all holy secrets into your possession and take it to the island of the light, where it can be kept safe for all eternity. Amen.
    Clairvaux Abbey
the fifteenth of November in the year of our Lord 1148
    »What do you think?« Maria asked after delivering a loose translation of the Latin text. She put the parchment back on the bed and looked at Peter.
    »That your Latin is terrific.«
    »Anything else?«
    That you are gorgeous, Maria, the way you are sitting here, on this bed in a guesthouse in Avignon, reading to me from a 700 year old parchment.
    »That Bernard of Clairvaux poisoned one of his closest friends because his clairvoyant abilities got in his way. And to atone for it he pushed for his canonization. That’s what I call true friendship!«
    »What do you think this ›holiest of all holy secrets‹ is?«
    Again, Peter picked up the parchment they had found inside the bronze bone and held it in his hands, gazing absentmindedly out of the window. The sounds of footsteps and the voices of nighttime revelers and tourists drifted up from the alley under their window. The rain had stopped and the light of the streetlamps mingled with the cozy light of the little desk lamp in their small room. For a brief moment, Peter wished nothing more than to sit on this bed with Maria, without this parchment and without having to jump at every little sound from the hallway.
    »Peter? Is something wrong?«
    Peter turned back to her. »In any case, it looks as if Hugues de Payens discovered something in the Holy Land which Bernard regarded as tremendously powerful but also as a terrible curse. Bernard wanted to get his hands on it at any cost and remove it to a safe place, but without the knowledge of his pupil or Pope Eugene III. And so he took the Templars, who were at that point just a badly organized group of private security guards, transformed them into an elite unit, and preached the Second Crusade. And, as we know, he was successful.«
    »Except that the Second Crusade was a fiasco. The Templars suffered a devastating defeat during the Siege of Damascus.«
    »Right, they screwed that up. It could be that Bernard and the Templars never managed to bring this ›secret‹ into their possession. But to know that the secret existed was already dangerous enough. So dangerous that it was worth committing a murder to prevent Malachy betraying it through his prophecies. Perhaps this knowledge is the true treasure of the Templars that was hidden for centuries.«
    Maria gave Peter an incredulous look. »Quite a daring hypothesis.«
    Peter shrugged his shoulders. »Have you ever heard about an island of the light?«
    Maria shook her head. »It may be just a paraphrase. Perhaps it’s not even an island. The entire letter is riddled with vague statements. It could be that there is no connection whatsoever between your visions, the Pope’s resignation, and all the murder cases!«
    »There is,« Peter said mulishly, »we have to find this Island of the Light.«
    Maria sat up, regaining her determination and her thirst for adventure. »Good. So where do we start?«
    Peter stood up from the bed. »Tomorrow. You need to get some sleep and so do I.«
    »But tomorrow the Saudi Ambassador expects us back at the airport,« she